Favor from a Friend
by MoonlightKitten22
Summary: When Mamoru is in a tight spot with his college assignments, is there any way he will be able to finish them in time? Perhaps, with a little help from an unexpected friend...


Disclaimer: Suffice to say I do not, indeed, own Sailor Moon. I'm still waiting for that one person who writes a fanfic and can actually say that he or she actually DOES own what they are writing about. My personal opinion; not gonna happen.

Also, this is somewhere in the first season, before Usagi and Mamoru find out who they are outside their rivalry/strange friendship. It's very likely to just remain a One-Shot, I think it's best that way. I hope you enjoy it.

~*~

It was after school had ended, and Usagi was sitting behind one of the games in the arcade. Today had been rough. She'd been late (again), had been told to stand in the hallway (again), had failed her math test (again), had made a stupid comment at the Senshi meeting that had everyone exasperated with her (again) and really all she wanted was to just forget about the entire day and do something right. Her solution; break the highscore of the newest Sailor V game.

Attacking one final Youma, she grinned. That highscore was hers! A good thing, too, since she was almost out of life and was bound to die sometime soon. Bashing the buttons to escape her fate, she unfortunately died a couple of minutes later, as she had predicted. She was happy enough with her score and decided to go see Motoki for a celebratory chocolate milkshake. A happy grin spread on her face at the thought. It was as though her whole day had already been forgotten, which was exactly how she wanted it to be.

Once she got closer to the counter, however, she could see Motoki was busy with someone else already. Trying to figure out the identity of the costumer, Usagi was shocked to see Mamoru-baka sitting there, looking quite defeated. Instead of walking up and being drawn into an inevitable argument, the blonde remained hidden from the two and listened to their conversation.

"It's hopeless, Motoki. I have two essays due tomorrow and another one the day after, and with that computer crashing, I lost all the typing I did for them. There's no way I'll be able to get it all done in time. Worst thing is, these assignments are very important if I ever want to be able to go to America to go to university there."

He had his head in his hands, obviously stressed, and Usagi couldn't help but feel sorry for him as he sat there. Apparently, Motoki felt the same as he tried to make the other man feel a bit better. "Was all your work on the computer, or do you at least have rough drafts ready?"

"One of the essays tomorrow, I have completely written but it still has to be typed out," Mamoru said, pointing to a stack of pages he had dropped on the counter when he entered. "I had that one typed out before the computer crashed, too. The other two, I have most of the work done for and I used to have the first part typed out, but they still needed some work." He took a sip of his coffee, hoping it would give him the strength to get through this day.

Taking a look at the stack of paper, Motoki had to wonder if there wasn't a solution to this entire situation. "Wouldn't it be possible to ask a friend if they would be willing to type that one out for you, since it's finished already?" he asked.

Mamoru shook his head, however. "You're the only friend I have, and I know you have to work the rest of the day and won't have time for it. I honestly wouldn't know who else to ask."

Frowning, Motoki shook his head. "I'm sorry, man. I'd like to be able to help, but I don't know what else to do either." He'd rarely seen his friend in this kind of state, and he knew Mamoru well enough to know that he'd hate getting anything less than a good mark. The dark-haired college student had always put high demands on himself, and now wasn't any different. Even though the computer crashing had been no fault of his own, he still hated being anything less than perfect. And if this mattered so much for the goal he'd set himself so long ago; to be able to go to America and get an even better education, it would be really bad if he didn't manage.

He could only watch as Mamoru sadly finished off his coffee, wishing there was something he could do. There was nothing he could think of, however, and soon enough there was another customer that needed his attention. "I'm sorry I couldn't be of any help. Good luck with everything, though, and I'll see you tomorrow." Motoki knew his friend would leave soon, in hopes of still finishing everything if he worked through the night.

As predicted, he noticed Mamoru nod and get up from the corner of his eye as he took the order of two children. Neither of them noticed the forgotten stack of papers on the counter, however.

~*~

Almost regretful, Mamoru opened the door to his apartment. He knew he'd have to start working immediately if he wanted at least one of the essays for the next day finished. Deciding he had best chances with the one he had already written, he made to take the papers out of his bag, only to realize they weren't there. He found the papers to his other two essays, but not the one he was looking for.

With a shock, he realized he'd forgotten them at the arcade, and immediately moved toward the phone. After ringing three times, he could hear Motoki's voice greeting him on the other side. "Motoki, please tell me my papers are still there on the counter." Waiting tensely for a few seconds as his friend moved to look, he could hardly believe the answer he got.

"_I'm sorry, I don't see them anywhere, and I didn't notice them when wiping off the counter either. Are you sure they should be here?_" Motoki answered, his voice worried. It was clear he had no idea where the papers had gone, and Mamoru groaned as he realized that was one essay he could forget about finishing tomorrow.

"Yeah, I'm sure. I put them on the counter and I thought I'd put them in my bag, but they weren't there when I looked. You're sure they're not around there somewhere?"

He could hear the regret in Motoki's voice as he answered they were nowhere to be seen. "_Someone must've taken them right after our conversation, because after I took the order from those two boys, I went to take away your coffee cup and they were already gone. I'm really sorry, I didn't even notice you'd forgotten them._"

With a sigh, Mamoru thanked his friend. "There's nothing you could've done, I should've remembered myself. I guess I'll just explain everything to my teacher tomorrow and hope she'll understand. In the meanwhile, I can just pay attention to the other essays and try to get those finished in time, at least. The rest is out of my hands, I suppose," he said, resigned to the fact that he'd probably be in trouble the next day.

"_Good luck, Mamoru, and I really hope everything will work out._"

After that, the two of them said goodbye and went back to the work that needed to be done. Mamoru turned back to the other essay he had to get finished and started to work on making it a coherent story. To his surprise, it went relatively easy and he got finished an hour before he thought he would. Deciding it was better to make a headstart on the one for next day, he worked on that for another hour before calling it quits. He knew he'd feel crappy the next day if he stayed up too late.

Little did he know that somewhere in town, there was someone still working.

~*~

Usagi sighed, after finishing with yet another piece of handwritten paper from the huge pile sitting next to her. She wasn't really a fast typer, even though it was getting better through the practice she was putting herself through right now, and Mamoru's handwriting wasn't always very legible. It made the work difficult to get through, but her determination to finish it helped her keep going on. That, and the bag of candy she'd gotten herself on her way back home. The blonde had known she'd probably need all the sugar she could get in order to manage this. That, and it was a good excuse to get herself some.

Looking up and giving her fingers and eyes a break for a few minutes, Usagi realized she'd gotten more than halfway through the papers already and she grinned. She didn't look at the clock, afraid of what she'd find (1:56 AM) and just smiled at Luna, who had fallen asleep on her bed a while ago. Then, she shook her head to get it focused once more and turned back to the shiny screen of the computer. Her attention likely wasn't going to get better during the night, so if she wanted to finish it, she had to make sure to work as quickly as possible without making any mistakes.

Fortunately, although school really wasn't her thing and math was a really bad subject for her, Japanese came relatively easy. Easy enough, at least, to catch any spelling mistakes she might make. The last thing she wanted was to have this finished and realize that it still wasn't fit to be handed in.

Usagi worked steadily through the night until, finally, she was able to start on the final piece of handwritten paper. With a sigh, she was able to put down the final word. Saving it on a memory stick, she pulled the thing out of the computer and looked at the time. At a quarter to eight, she didn't have too much time left to get ready, so she went through her morning ritual of rushing through most things. Her eyes felt ready to fall shut due to staying up all night and they hurt from looking at the computer screen. Her fingers were stiff, unused to so much work.

Ready to go, the blonde jogged out of the door, feeling too tired for more activity. The papers and the memory stick were in her schoolbag. Usagi was glad she knew Mamoru's schedule well enough that, after they bumped into one another each morning in her rush for school, he went to get some coffee from Motoki before going to his college. Therefore, she figured it would be best to just leave the things at the arcade, on the off chance they didn't run into one another.

Hearing the bell ring above her head, alerting Motoki to her presence, the small girl moved to the counter. Motoki smiled at her, looking surprised that she even had time to go to the arcade before school, but it soon turned into a concerned frown when he saw how tired she was.

"Are you feeling alright, Usagi?" he asked. "You don't look very good."

She just shook her head, blonde pigtails flying behind her. "Didn't sleep at all tonight. Can I have a chocolate milkshake, please?" What she needed right now was a lot of sugar, if she ever wanted to get through the day. No doubt she'd be in trouble again because her homework wasn't finished, and the lull in Youma activity usually meant something was about to happen. Today was unlikely to be a good day. Looking at Motoki's back, she appreciated his concern. He was a really good friend.

Opening her bag, tired fingers grabbed the papers and the memory stick, putting them back on the counter where she'd grabbed them the day before.

Hurrying, Motoki made her the milkshake and watched her leave again, worried and wondering why it was she hadn't slept all night. Then, a flash of white caught his attention, and his eyes were drawn to a familiar stack of papers on the counter, a memory stick on top of them. He couldn't help but gasp.

Meanwhile, Usagi was almost running toward her school, drinking her milkshake at the same time. It was no surprise that she only barely managed to avoid bumping into a familiar college student, who looked about as irritated as she felt. "Mind where you're going, Odango Atama, the streets aren't here just for you." He seemed tired, and she guessed that was why his jab wasn't nearly as good as normal. It didn't matter, though, since she wasn't really in the mood for one of their usual fights either.

"Same to you, Mamoru-baka. If you'd move yourself out of the way now, perhaps I can at least be on time for school." Then, she moved past him and fell into a jog again, heading in the direction of school.

Usagi never noticed his eyes on her back, wondering why she wasn't nearly as lively today as she usually was.

Shrugging, Mamoru moved on and walked into the arcade. There, he was met with a surprising sight. Motoki was staring in bemusement at what appeared to be... the stack of papers he'd left at exactly that same spot the day before. Noticing a soft pink memory stick on top of them, Mamoru approached, wondering what was going on.

By then, Motoki had noticed his presence and continued to stare, only now at Mamoru.

"They were here after all?" Mamoru questioned, unsure as to what was going on. He'd honestly believed his friend when he'd told him that his papers had disappeared, but here they were again.

Shaking his head, Motoki managed a reply. "No, they really were missing. They weren't here when I got in this morning, so I think..."

When he trailed off again, Mamoru got annoyed and approached the pile. He noticed a folded note underneath the memory stick, but Motoki started talking again before he could even open it and see what was inside.

"Usagi was here earlier, and I think she dropped them off."

With a disbelieving snort (after all, Odango Atama doing something helpful for him seemed a bit unbelievable), Mamoru opened the paper. His mouth fell open when he read what was inside, though.

_Mamoru-baka,_

_My apologies if the absence of these papers yesterday worried you. Just thought I might be able to help you out a bit. See it as a favor from a friend._

_Sincerely,_

_Tsukino Usagi._

_PS Write a little more legibly next time, would you?_

His mouth still open, he handed the note to Motoki, who smiled. Mamoru never noticed. He just stared at the pink memory stick lying innocently on top of the stack of papers.

~*~

The End

~*~

Hope you enjoyed it. Not much substance or character building or anything, I know, but I liked the idea. Thank you for reading and have a nice day!

Hugs,

MoonlightKitten22


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